Unfortunately, not to the best of my knowledge. For all its charms Raleigh really lacks a lot of historic, walkable neighborhoods near downtown. The closest comparison to The Fan might be Oakwood.
It totally would have required public notice, meetings, etc. They completely bypassed that entire process and it appears that there’s no consequence. Nice job City of Raleigh. Sheesh.
As a resident of The Paramount, I made my decision to buy there based on “promises” that the city made through its own strategic plans. The very first opportunity to implement that plan effectively was tossed out the window with a prominent suburban McDonald’s. Now, we have two hotel projects, one that was built under false pretense and the other one that is approved in excess of the original UDO. So, we are now 3:3 in adjacent projects that have somehow not aligned to the city’s intentions.
Now, I completely understand that I live DT, albeit on the very edge of it. I want an urban neighborhood, but I don’t want some mish-mash of suburban crap and deceitful business operators as neighbors. FWIW, while I understand some of my building neighbors who opposed the hotel on the corner of Peace/Boylan, I wasn’t one of them. I wanted to leverage the opportunity to negotiate the best looking property adjacent to us, but my voice didn’t matter. The reality is that the variance process to the UDO is really the only opportunity for neighboring buildings to influence what “visually” happens adjacent to them. While the Paramount Association did obtain concessions, I personally would have given up one more floor to get more specific concessions on all of the elevation materials and finishes, stronger setback language from our north property line, rooftop unit specific guidance that would push those units further from our facade, etc. So, who knows what this “high end boutique hotel” will look like. I sure hope it doesn’t look like the Revisn Hotel.
Wasn’t sure where to put this but I was trying to get a handle on the total number of high-rises proposed in and around DT. I think I came up with possibly 17?
Active:
FNB Tower
Proposed
City Hall (3)
City Gateway
S. Saunders (3-6?)
Kane “Amtrak”
Bus Terminal
Stale/Unknown
400H
301 Hillsborough (2)
Edison
Anyone want to check my math?
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I might throw the N&O under stale/unknown
I can see that. I think I was only including something if I’ve actually seen a massing or conceptual rendering at least. I was also excluding anything under like 15-16 stories or so even though there are several proposals in the 10-12 story range.
Fair point. That would be up to 18 then. Not bad for a downtown with about 2 dozen existing high rises.
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As I had uploaded this from another Post…Still wondering about the N & O site and any plans for this Tower to be built…if ever ?
Something will definitely be built here but there aren’t any firm plans as far as I know. The current owners are investors rather than developers, so I think we might have to wait a while before anything develops. I think the current owners will probably try to flip the property, which means whatever gets built will need to be pretty tall to make profitable.
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I was told from a fairly prominent real-estate agent that there are actually plans and renderings for the site now, and they are impressive. However, I won’t believe it till i see it with my own eyes.
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Man, I’d love to be wrong, but count me among the skeptics too.
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Let’s put it here. I think this topic covers very general things and lists are always good.
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Hey Y’all,
I was recently thinking about something and I was curious to get people’s opinions on it. So, the concept is called an “innovation district”, and it’s essentially a cluster of buildings (or in many cases a collection of parking lots) that is marketing toward innovative companies. The best ubran example that I know of is Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass. At one point McKinsey (or someone) called it the “most innovative square mile on Earth.” But it started off as a collection of old industrial buildings and acres upon acres of parking lot directly across the river from Boston (and right on a subway line).
Now, other places have tried to copy this model, including Durham, Winston-Salem and Greensboro in NC. Obviously Durham has a very strong innovation economy and the Triad cities are much further behind, but I was wondering if having something like this would benefit DTR. The logical place would be somewhere near HQ Raleigh or with an HQ Raleigh affiliate location. I could see some potential benefits to this but also some drawbacks, I was wondering what others thought.
Best and Happy Thanksgiving week,
Steve
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That’s an interesting concept, and I like the idea of trying to grow one in Raleigh.
I took a look-see on Google Maps of Kendall Square, and my overall impression is that such a place would thrive best in an edgy, industrial-type area where property values might be relatively low and young, creative tech workers don’t mind going. Obviously we don’t have a waterfront, or convenient access to MIT, Harvard, and the like, but we do have a great education system in the area. In my eyes, the obvious place for such a district is the Warehouse District, especially if new development could preserve or expand upon the brick buildings to maintain its character. Really, the entire West St. corridor could work, as it’s already the target of new development and (eventually) a cycle track.
I totally agree and hopefully we’ll hear something soon in regards to the city’s efforts to bring something/company new to the area…fingers crossed 
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Isn’t this essentially what we have in Centennial Campus? Connected to a tier 1 Research University, literally next door to (what will hopefully one day be) a huge urban park, less than 2 miles from DT proper and sorta connected via the planned BRT line?
With the Spring Hill site, this is definitely what they are after.
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I can’t believe I didn’t put that together. Yes, this is very similar to what we have with Centennial, though I’m not sure the marketing is as strong. Maybe that’s a problem.
Yes, but as @Steve said, the marketing/branding isn’t great, and I’d add that Centennial Campus as it is now is more of an office park than it is a true “Innovation District.” It isn’t very urban, and has parking lots and decks all over the place. Perhaps in time it can become more of what we’re envisioning, but it’s also being developed according to a master plan that favors a more suburban style (just look at the Spring Hill site).
Made this master plan seems like forever ago. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JyxsUYxLDeCXRIsyqZ4gS70Xas0&usp=sharing
Still think this area can work as an innovation district with Kane’s Cabarrus development and a West St. tunnel connection. And extending to S. Saunders/ Lake Wheeler Rd. as well.
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I don’t know where else to put this, but I’m confused on whether the council got rid of height restrictions or is it just dreaming that never got around to happening?